"And in those simple beautiful movements I remembered what was really important in training; that consistency trumps intensity; all the time. That intensity is born from consistency. That one cannot force it, one has to lay in wait for it, patiently, instinctively, calmly and be ready to grab it when Grace lays it down in front of you."

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Suffered yesterday and today with some serious allergy attack and have been sneezing and dripping nonstop. Just what you want for a high intensity high heartrate swing workout.

But it went fine, and per usual, my symptoms disappeared during the training.

this was not hard but not easy either,especially at the end. Just what I need from this training to prepare for those last 2 minutes of the swing test
Looking at the video it looks as hard as it felt but I gave a solid effort Made all the time cutoffs so that was good even while running back and forth to give glenn the camera and switch the music. This literally kicked my ass as I need every freaking second of recovery and this pushed it

But I could have gone on for at least another 2-3 minutes at this pace no problem and that's a good sign

Monday, November 28, 2016

This went well. I realized looking at the video from last week that when I don't get the bar onto my chest fully at the start I don't lay back enough and end up holding too much weight with my arms, instead of supporting it with my body.
Made the adjustment today and it worked beautifully- no biceps tendon issues at all. A key is taking enough warmup time in the stability ball back bend and really opening up the front panel so I can arch easily.
As well as also warming and stretching the front delts enough to be able to get the bar to the chest easily.
Also, making sure to get it there during warmups.
Made a HUGE difference. No stalled first reps either

Sunday, November 27, 2016

It's not all PR's and sunshine. My legs were heavy from the first steps this morning; off to a late'ish start to wait for the rain to stop. I don't mind walking in the warm rain but this was not that. Luckily it stopped and I got started. But the legs were heavy and tired from the get. Yesterday's fast pace seemed to have had an effect.Plus walking in wet sand put even more work into my legs. Another reason I didn't worry about speed. Lots of foot stability work though :)

I do plan a more long slow distance approach on the days after the 200 reps but there was no choice at all today. I didn't even time any laps until the last one where I felt warmed up and looser enough to see how slow I'd been going

7:47
Not too bad but it means the other laps were around 8:10 which was fine.

And it was my glutes and hams that were tired, not my back, which is great.

Saturday, November 26, 2016

As usual , worried about this workout, and, as usual ( of late) it's no problem. EXCEPT that's is just stinkin' freakin' hard. Every single time. And, when you get stronger or your wind gets better you just push that much harder and you're back to the same place: stinkin',freakin' hard.
LOL.
I questions myself on why I do this every saturday. And the answer's the same; I feel so good when it's over :)
Same today except when only had three of us going and one wasn't swinging so it was SUPER FAST and we did all 200 reps in a PR time of 29 minutes. Usually it takes 40-45 min
No wonder I felt like I was going to puke and my HR never got below 150 the entire time.But that's perfect training for the five minute test and I really tried to keep that in mind as I struggled to control my breath and my HR in the short rests between the sets.
At least this time, I didn't crash and burn after set 6. Set 10 was the roughest, power output wise, but it still was stronger than most sessions.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

First just a note: I have resigned as Chief Instructor for StrenghMatters and have re joined StrongFirst. I did this for many reasons but the main one is that I desired a very serious and hardcore training atmosphere in the kettlebell community and try as I might that was just not the business direction SM was going to.StrongFirst has never waivered in their commitment to their underlying values of strength and discipline and their commitment to the kettlebell and the Way of Strength and being a School of Strength.
I am back as a level 2 and will work my way back up to Leadership but that is not as important as being surrounded by truly like minded individuals.

Today

Solo training

Strength Speed swings
10 min
200 reps
12,600 lbs
Easiest session yet. Strongest performance.Focused well on the drive in and got right to work. Ten minutes is easy more is not :)

BW Walking lunges
4 sets of 40 steps unbroken

again, this is perfect for building lactic acid tolerance for the test. strong too

Monday, November 21, 2016

Not as easy as I expected, not because of strength but because I was very tight. Didn't take enough time, in retrospect, to open up my front panel and it was hard to keep my arch during my presses.Once I was in position it was no problem but I found I was drifting in and out of the arch during each set.The reps I was "in" the press went smoothly. If I was too forward so was the bar.
The good news is that no reps were ever in doubt if just hard.

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Very strong day today. No soreness or stiffness from yesterdays heavy day so that was good. Nice and cool and overcast today, which I love, with a nice breeze too.Perfect.
Wasn't sure from the first laps that it would be anything more than survival rucking but I warmed up fast.Legs felt loose and lungs open right from the start.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

This worked great! I was more than a bit concerned as I have never even tried to swing this bell with one arm,much less for 10 reps but it was not a problem. AND, it worked exactly what I need to work too create overload for the five minute test:my grip.
Everything was fine until set five then the grip on my left hand started to be an issue. the right was fine but the left was tough. Hard enough that it limited my ability to accelerate because I was worried that 1) I would lose the bell and 2) it would strain my shoulder.So I played it conservatively but I was happy that the weight didn't feel heavy, the cardio was no issue and the power was solid. This is definitely the route to take with this low volume day.Hopefully this will make the 48 kg feel lighter next week.

No ramifications from Wednesdays strength speed workout either, and that is good.
Very very happy with this workout

One arm at a time. Just like the swing test. Only doing one arm really lets me concentrate on form control and power but 10 rep on the same arm really works specific strength and conditioning for the test

Barbell hacks
65 x 10
85 x 10
105 x 10 x 3 sets

high rep day is tough! Really locked out at the top and flexed hard to simulate the stress at the top of the swing
makes a big difference.

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

These were both strong and hard at the same time. Again I realized how important it is to have a serious mental rehearsal before I start these workouts. I was feeling fine, stretched and rolled and slept well last night, but just rolled into the workout not taking it seriously enough mentally.

And while I didn't pay a big price my mind drifted way too much for such an important workout.
The first five minutes were strong and then it started getting serious and I had to talk myself off the ledge more than a few sets.

Again, "shut up and go" was the mantra. Just like on Saturdays :)
This is achieving the goal the weight is heavy enough to really challenge my RFD ( rate of force development) when out of breath- just what I need to improve. And 12 minutes is tough, the most I've ever done with this weight.
The workout will alternate each week like this
wk 1 10 min
wk 2 12 min
wk 3 10 min
wk 4 14 min
wk 5 10 min

etc,
The 10 min workouts will be before a 10 x 10/10 saturday beast session.The longer ones will be before the 100 rep workouts

Monday, November 14, 2016

Did pretty well for a shade under 5 hours sleep last night. Slept on the plane home from Vancouver so that was a help but it was a long day today. Even had a breakfast sandwich to fuel up so I had something to give for the workout.Not bad either, Cut the load back 10% or so and it was perfect. Didn't run out of gas at the end either.

form is getting better all the time. shoulder was in place all workout too. Good thing about yesterday's workshop was that it was all about bodymaintenance so I spent the day stretching rolling and hanging. and talking, yes. Lots of talking :)

36 kg belt squats
4 sets of 14
locking and flexing quads at top of every reps. this sucks but it's exactly what I need for the swing lockout.Haven't been doing this at all so it will take some time to condition it but I know it will make a huge difference,

Floor pushups
30
30
25

could have gotten the last five but didn't want to push at all. Perfect.
Surprised I got the first two sets of 30 so strongly

Crawls
3 laps of 70 ft
focused on head up more and belly lower. this is getting stronger. Going slowly too, more deliberate

rear delts
BW 162.8
BF 11.7
W 57.2 !!!

way good considering I ate breakfast ( eggs and english mufin) and lots of carbs, Pizza, risotto and enchilada and icecream lol. Not much of any of it but that's what I ate this weekend

Saturday, November 12, 2016

I was a bit nervous about this one, I'll be honest. Havent done this exact workout in 5 weeks with taking off for the NYC cert then just 8's on the workout back ( 8's are NOT the same as 10's lol) and then last weeks 100 rep workouts. Plus I'm getting on a plane in an hour and did NOT want anything tweaked when I have to teach all day tomorrow.
But it went very well
Made sure not to drink last night, went to bed EXTRA early and got up and rolled and stretched. Everything was strong and even the last two sets weren't that bad. Not where they need to be but still very decent

Backswing was good, bell height was too and cardio was as solid as it's been.Pretty fast pace too no dilly dallying around, everyone was working.
No tweaks and this gave me confidence. Finally this bell is just starting to feel like any other "heavy' bell over 32 kg :)

Barbell hacks
65 x 10
85 x 6
105 x 6
115 x 6
125 x 6

just cruising now

Sandbag pushups
bw x 12
32 x 12 x 2
x 10 x 1

very strict. touching bar every rep now. much stronger . shoulders feel great

Side and rear delts
alternating sets with 20 and 15 lbs for 4 sets of 10

forgot which I was supposed to do so did both :)

BW 163
BF 12%
W 56.7

just goes to show what not eating ice cream or drinking wine will do to me :)

ok off to Vancouver Wa for a BodyMaintenance workshop. Now that I got that bear off my back getting super excited to do this

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Hard to get going, that is. Pretty tired and sore but had to just keep the day's momentum going and get out the door. And, of course, not ask myself that question; "do I feel like rucking?"
Cause the answer was no; but I'm going to miss Sunday's so I had to go as well.
Feeling yesterday's strength speed work as well as a lot more than usual demo's with new clients this week.
It all adds up. Luckily got a full hour of BodyMaintenance in this morning and that made a big difference. Bicep tendon is behaving again. But Saturday is a BIG workload and then off to the workshop and a non stop weekend of work.
Need some down time this afternoon and tomorrow but first this.

Hot today again too and that was unexpected. Extra nice sauce,

45 lb Ruck
6 laps
no timed laps but around 8:10 I guess,.Steady state
55 min

legs feel good but lats and shoulders tired

BW 162,6
BF 10.8 !!!
W 57.6

goes to show what haagen daz and oatmeal can do. Back to carbs and fats for second meal(s) and it's going very well. This is how I've eaten for the last 13 years and it works for me

Wednesday, November 09, 2016

Weird one today. Ran over some piece of steel that got embedded in my undercarriage on the way home and had to get AAA to jack up the bar before I knew it was not piercing anything vital. Got to drive off instead of being towed to my mechanics but I didn't know that til after 30 minutes waiting on the freeway.Not the best conditions to concentrate on my workout but it came through just fine.And then there is this

That also not the best way to start the day but improvise, adapt and overcome eh?
Long story short 11 minutes was no trouble. Not easy but not that hard either, especially with a distracted mind

Speed swings
28 kg
15;15 x 10
11 minutes
22 sets
220 reps
13,860 lbs

Just a bit tired but it was still strong. no double breathing required but it was challenging my wind perfectly

BW walking lunges
4 laps of 40 steps
unbroken not as bad a quad burn as before. good sign

Monday, November 07, 2016

Finally figured out how to get my stupid biceps tendon BACK into the humeral groove. By accident of course; the last thing I tried. I used my reverse grip overhead stick stretch and 'bang' I felt it slide back into place. After that all the little neck,levator scapula and scapula tightness and pinging went right away.

I tried the windmill stretches a million times and it felt like it worked but it wouldn't stay it. This did. As usual , the only thing harder than figuring it out is remembering to do it. I think I'll remember this one.

And it really showed up during the presses, All the little adjustments I've made to grip width, wear the bar hits in the hand, elbow position during take off and walk out were all good today. This was without a doubt the easiest my press has felt

I did sets of four but could have done all of five. Did one set at the end just to know and it was the strongest set of the day

44kg belt squat
13, 16, 18, 20
so strong. Really concentrated on keeping the tension on the legs throughout but also flexing the quads at the lockout. This should really help for the swing test cause that's where it's so hard at the finish; just locking out the legs.
Also I realize I have to up the reps and the lactic acid burn on this day. this exercise SHOULD be a major help to the test and I haven't been working it hard enough. They just freakin' hurt so damn much :)
Oh well.

Floor pushups PR for total volume
3 sets of 30
1 set of 20
110 total reps.

I was secretly hoping to get 4 sets of 30 but my triceps had other ideas.

Crawls
3 laps of 70 feet
strong

Rear delts
3 sets of 15 with 15's

haven't done these as light in awhile and slowing them down made them that much harder. all good

Sunday, November 06, 2016

This was nice. Wasn't even trying and came up with some very nice times. Granted yesterday's volume was low but that wouldn't guarantee anything. Except something has shifted and that's very cool. Haven't really felt this in, well, decades, I guess. And I really never thought I would again, especially on the endurance side Just goes to show you never know.

wow. that was smoking fast and not hard at all. I started to bonk a little on the 10th lap as I was going slow trying to recover a bit in preparation for the next speed lap but once I got into it it was strong!

Saturday, November 05, 2016

First try out with this alternate method and it worked very well. Just ten reps per arm, per set trying to focus on maximum power and acceleration for the same amount of time as the set in the five minute test.
It was easier than expected and I got better height on these swings than ever.
It was pretty easy in terms of total volume but it's the same as we were doing before, I'm just stronger now.
Next weeks 10 x 10/10 wont be so much fun

Thursday, November 03, 2016

Great day today. Had the full hour bodymaintenance stretch out and got to spend more time than I have in awhile working on my knee flexion. When I was up in the quad stretch, I thought for sure I was 'heel to butt' and asked another trainer to check it for me. Sure enough I was able to touch! Crazy!!

It was just "there" all of a sudden. Another threshold crossed.

Then I sat in seiza and it too was full! That really surprised me.I've really worked hard these last three years to get this and now it's arrived. Unreal

this was just a few months ago

and this a few months before that

the progress is amazing.

Now just to maintain it and make it even easier.

Ruck

Decided to leave the extra 5 lbs in the ruck and just tough it out with 50.I need as much leg and hip strength as possible for this Beast test

50 lbs
6 laps
55 minutes
One timed lap : 7:49

BW 163.2
BF 12.1
W 56.6

ok day off tomorrow then the new protocol for the 100 rep beast swings, ten sets of ten reps per arm

Wednesday, November 02, 2016

The experiment was a success. The 28 was pretty much perfect for the job of challenging my cardio in the last five minutes of the workout. The weight felt light and swung easily 10 reps in 15 or less seconds. The first five minutes were not hard at all even while trying to maximize speed and power output.But then it started challenging my wind and that's what I need for the test in March. It was about as hard to breathe as in the last 5 minute or so of a 20 min session with the 24 . But with a heavier bell so strength is being built as well.

Next week we'll do 11 min then 12 then re evaluate.

Left biceps tendon was out the last two days I think from too much getup practice. It was really bugging me despite lots of bodywork and I wasn't sure I could swing! but I figure it would either fix it or I couldn't do it and it was fine. As usual. The massage ball work loosened up all the tight ass tissue then the old pattern set things right.

Thank you :) It brought back bad old memories of being in pain and really restricted movement which, of course, leads to even more restricted and compensated movement. No bueno. But the combination of SMR and my windmill and scap work brought things back into place. Just got to go slower with the getup work.

28 kg Speed swings
15:15 x 10
20 sets
200 reps
12,600 lbs
RPE 6.5

Walking lunges BW4 laps of 40 steps
unbroken

Definitely getting lots of lactic acid quad burn here, also just what I need. Even mo betta after the swings
Have to just let the burn burn. Embrace it. It's what burns the last half the swing test

Parallel pushups
3 sets of 25
last set hard after 20 but do able

Rear delts
3 sets of 15 with 15

love these still and put the finishing touch on the shoulder re balance